Karnataka trounce Delhi

A formidable Karnataka continued their winning streak in the Super League stages of the Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy as they trounced Delhi by eight wickets in their Group B match here on Sunday.

Earlier, Karnataka had beaten Mumbai and Uttar Pradesh in their previous two Super League matches of the national T20 tournament.

It was an all-round show from Karnataka. Right-arm medium pacer V Koushik (4/19) and KC Cariappa (3/15) shone with the ball while later Mayank Agarwal (43) and Karun Nair (42) remained unbeaten as Karnataka chased the 110-run target with utmost ease.

Karnataka, with 12 points, are on top of the table. The Manish Pandey-led side will face Vidarbha on Tuesday in their final Super League game.

Karnataka bowlers justified their skipper's decision to invite Delhi to bat first at the Emerald Heights International School Ground.

Koushik and leg-spinner Cariappa did the damage as Delhi was restricted to a meagre 109/9 in their 20 overs.

Apart from Nitish Rana (37 off 29 balls) and Lalit Yadav (33 off 40 balls), no other Delhi batsman showed stomach for a fight as the Karnataka duo rattled the Delhi line-up.

Medium pacer R Vinay Kumar (1/13) also played his role to perfection.

Chasing 110, Karnataka lost in-form opener Rohan Kadam (0) in the second over after he was caught by rival skipper Ishant Sharma off pacer Navdeep Saini.

B R Sharath (26 off 15 balls) and the ever-dependable Agarwal (43 not out off 47 balls) added 32 for the second wicket before the Karnataka wicketkeeper was run out by Subodh Bhati.

Then Nair joined Agarwal and the duo took Karnataka home with 4.3 overs to spare, taking the Delhi bowlers to task.

All Delhi bowlers, including Test specialist Ishant Sharma (0-7), had an off day in the field.

In another the Group 'B' game, Vidarbha bowlers held their nerve and guided their side to a 10-run victory over Uttar Pradesh.

Bengal score

Meanwhile, in a Group A game, Bengal drubbed Jharkhand by eight wickets.

Bengal bowlers dished a clinical performance to restrict Jharkhand to 126/9 in 20 overs and then chased the target with seven overs to spare.

Shreevats Goswami starred with the bat as he remained unbeaten on 86 off just 50 balls, striking 12 fours and a six.